


Trouble Brews

by SloanGreyMercyDeath



Category: Once Upon a Time (TV)
Genre: College AU, F/F, Magic but different than the show, TW for mentions of suicide, meet cute, some talk of child abuse, the usual regina tragic backstory, they live across the hall from each other!
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-02-09
Updated: 2021-02-27
Packaged: 2021-03-15 11:20:19
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 6,470
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29313216
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SloanGreyMercyDeath/pseuds/SloanGreyMercyDeath
Summary: After barely graduating high school before dropping off the map, Emma Swan finally has her life back on track. She's a sophomore in college, roommates with her best friend Snow, and reconnected with David. She even meets a cute TA, Regina Swan, and gets a job at Granny's diner. Everything is looking up. Then, Snow goes missing and it'll take everyone to get her back.
Relationships: Evil Queen | Regina Mills/Emma Swan
Comments: 7
Kudos: 17





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

  * For [WannabeLovesPizza](https://archiveofourown.org/users/WannabeLovesPizza/gifts).



> Hello! So, I have all but the last two chapters of this story already written. I'm going to post one chapter a week and (hopefully) this will motivate me to finish!! Thanks to the WONDERFUL wannabelovespizza for commissioning this from me.
> 
> You can find me on tumblr at top-jj-rights!

Emma frowned as time ticked down on screen. If they didn’t start icing soon, they’d never make it. The past hour had been excruciating. Everyone was running around and that blonde guy with a mustache really needed this win. She raised her spoon to her lips, but dropped it again as the tower of cupcakes started leaning to the side.

“No. Please, no!” 

She leaned forward as the chefs on  _ Cupcake Wars  _ raced around the kitchen. It’d become her tradition to watch  _ Cupcake Wars _ when she was stressed out. She loved cupcakes and she loved watching people make them (or fail to make them). It was perfect. The cupcake tower fell to the side.

“No!” 

She slammed her back against the couch, forgetting about the bowl of cereal in her hands. The cold milk sloshed all over her, dripping onto the couch. She cursed and jumped into the air, holding the bowl away from herself. She had been so good about keeping clean all summer, hadn’t broken a single appliance, and now, right before Snow came back, she had spilled milk everywhere. She leaned forward and set the bowl on the coffee table. This was her last pair of clean jeans, too.

Emma shook her head and walked over to the kitchen. The apartment was open-concept. The kitchen and the living room were only separated by a table, and their bedrooms were three steps away, right across from each other. When they studied, they’d just leave their doors open and shout questions at each other. Well, Emma would shout questions and Snow would shout answers.

At least the couch was a cheap, plastic one and she hadn’t destroyed the $600 leather monstrosity that Snow’s parents had tried to give them when they moved in almost a year ago. Snow’s parents continually tried to give them lavish gifts, but Emma always reminded them that Snow needed to learn how to do things for herself. After all, wasn’t that the point of college? 

She had allowed Snow’s parents to give them a few things, though. They paid rent and utilities on the apartment. The kitchen was well stocked with the essential appliances, like a smoothie maker that Emma always used before she went to the gym. Snow had a million bowls for baking and (apparently) their Tupperware collection was to die for.

Emma placed the bowl in the sink and grabbed a fistful of paper towels off the roll. Snow had spent the summer in Africa helping orphans or something. Sometimes, it frustrated Emma that she was already doing things with her life and Emma hadn’t even picked a major. She’d started a couple years late, so she was starting her sophomore year while Snow was starting her senior year. Emma felt like she was behind that arbitrary ‘adult’ schedule.

Technically, however, she had until her Junior Year to pick a major, so she wasn’t actually lagging behind. She was taking all the Gen Eds she’d need and a couple fun classes, like Archery. Sighing, Emma took the paper towels into the living room and started wiping the couch off. She needed to stop comparing herself to other people. It’s like Snow always said: We all have our own pace and that’s fine. Of course, that philosophy fell by the wayside every time Snow decided that Emma needed a lecture about “motivation” and “self-actualization.”

She heard the front door’s lock click. The door squeaked as it opened and Snow backed into the apartment, struggling to drag her suitcase behind her. She tripped over the door frame and landed on her butt with a crash. Emma started laughing at the sorry sight.

“Speak of the Virgin,” Emma chuckled.

“This bag is so heavy. Step-Mother made me bring all my debutante dresses. Apparently, spending two months abroad didn’t do anything, and I need to be reminded to lose weight.” Snow reached up towards Emma, wiggling her fingers. Emma dropped her paper towels onto the couch and hauled her to her feet. They shared a smile.

“Welcome back,” Emma said, pulling her into a hug.

“Wait.” Snow looked over Emma’s shoulder. “Why is the couch wet?”

Emma blushed. “Uh, I was watching Cupcake Wars.”

“Oh, of course.” Snow sighed and kicked her bag. “I guess I should unpack.”

Emma grabbed the suitcase and nodded towards Snow’s room. “Lead the way.”

“Thank you so much. You know, I really missed having you as my personal busboy.”

Emma just scoffed. “Please, you got to travel to Africa and put ‘Saving Orphans’ on your resume. I just spent two months sweating my butt off and not choosing a major.”

Snow paused with her hand on the doorknob of her bedroom door. “You still haven’t decided? You only have a year left.”

Emma avoided her eyes and shuffled awkwardly. “I know. I’ll pick one.”

“Alright.” Snow opened the door, turned the light on, and entered the room. Emma winced at how cute it was. Snow had a nice floral bedspread and flowing pink curtains. Her desk was immaculate and all of her books were sorted by genre and author. Emma would tease her for her color-coordination, but really, she was almost jealous. She just sort of kicked things around her own room when she needed to find something. Whenever Snow mentioned it, she would reassure her it was ‘a system’.

She dropped the suitcase onto Snow’s bed with a grunt. “Why lift weights when you can be a debutante?”

Snow chuckled and started unzipping the bag. “Very funny. Maybe I’ll start going to the gym with you!”

Emma chuckled weakly. “Yeah, that’d be great.”

Snow narrowed her eyes at her, slowly opening her closet door. “You’re making fun of me.”

“What? No! But we should find someone at your level? You can work out together!”

Snow scoffed. “Right. You’re way too advanced for me.”

“No, I just…like the alone time.” Emma looked away. “You’re great, but…”

“Yeah,” Snow said, nodded slightly, “The lone wolf needs alone time.”

Emma threw her hands up. “Snow, you know what I mean! Everything is just so…much. It’s hard to be so surrounded sometimes. It’s nice to be able to go somewhere, put some headphones on and just exist.”

“Alright,” Snow said, smiling affectionately. “I’ll leave you in peace.” She started pulling dresses out of her bag. “So, why can’t you decide on a major? You’ve been indecisive for years.”

Emma groaned and flopped down onto Snow’s bed. She ran her hands over the fluffy quilt. “I don’t know! It’s just such a huge decision. I barely graduated high school, I only got into college because of my foster program, and I have no life skills.”

“Just pick something.”

“That’s easy for you to say. You’ve known that you wanted to teach since you were three. I have no direction.” Emma turned her head to look at Snow, suddenly serious. “What am I going to do when you graduate? We only have one year left together.”

Snow frowned. “I don’t know. You’ll be ok, Emma. You’ve come a long way since you called me crying two years ago. I’m glad you did, by the way. I was worried about you after we graduated and you disappeared.”

Emma shifted uncomfortably. “Yeah. I know. I’m sorry. Thanks for helping me.”

“Always.” Snow put down the dress in her hands and smiled gently. “Why don’t we have some hot chocolate? We can throw in marshmallows.” She put a finger up before Emma could interrupt. “With cinnamon, of course.”

“Thanks,  _ mom _ .” Emma followed Snow into the kitchen.

“Why don’t you pick one class? One that isn’t a general requirement. If you like it, major in it.”

“Even that’s a hard decision! What if I just toss our course list into the air and throw a marshmallow on it? Where it lands, there I go.”

“Well—“

“Too late.” Emma ran into her room and headed to her desk. The stack of papers had been sitting there mocking her for weeks. She’d printed all the courses out, but she hadn’t actually looked through it yet. She grabbed the stack, walked back into the kitchen, and tossed them into the air.

“You’re picking that up.”

“Yeah, sure, whatever.” Emma grabbed a marshmallow, licked it, and threw it up. “Alright. Hello, Future!” They watched the marshmallow as it landed with a plop. Emma squatted down and read the class. “Introduction to Political Science.” She looked up at Snow, who was rooting around in the fridge. “Snow!”

“There’s no milk.”

“I wanted cereal. Did you hear what I have to take?”

“Intro to Poli-Sci. That’ll be fun.”

Emma sighed and fell back onto the floor. “We’ll see.” She pouted for a minute before sitting up again. “Hot chocolate?”

Snow put her hands on her hips. “Maybe if you went to the grocery store more than once a month, we’d have enough milk.”

Emma groaned and got to her feet. “Granny’s?”

“Yeah.”

“Cupcakes?”

“One day, you’ll get sick of those.”

“Never.”


	2. Chapter 2

Emma groaned as she woke up. Someone was banging at her door and she was not ok with it. She grabbed her pillow and smashed it over her face, trying to block out the sound and the sun. She really needed thicker curtains. After a few seconds, when it was obvious that it wasn’t going to stop, she tossed the pillow to the side.

“What?!”

The knocking finally stopped. “You’ve got 20 minutes!” Snow’s voice shouted from the other side of the door. “Let’s go! First day of class!”

Emma groaned again. “Yes, mom,” she mumbled. 

“Just because I can’t hear you, doesn’t mean that I don’t know you’re grumbling!”

Emma listened for a moment, but nothing else happened. She threw her blanket to the side and swung her feet onto the floor. Running a hand through her hair, she tried to decide if she wanted to wear make-up. 

She didn’t usually wear any, maybe just mascara if she was feeling fancy, but it was the first day of classes. She was taking a class in what could possibly be her major; did she want to try and impress the other students? The faculty? She rubbed her eyes and sighed. Nope, she didn’t care. She’d probably just fail out of the class anyway. 

She stood up and stretched, feeling the familiar pull of her muscles, and then walked into the attached bathroom. One of her favorite things about college was privacy. She had never had her own bedroom and bathroom before. She could be as messy as she wanted and, as much as she hated being dependent on Snow’s parents, it was nice to be able to take hour long showers and bubble baths whenever she wanted without having to worry about a utility bill.

Emma turned the sink on and splashed some water on her face. First day of classes. This was going to be great. As she toweled off her face, she laughed.

“Hello, my name is Emma Swan and I’m a Political Science major.” She squeezed out some toothpaste onto her toothbrush. “I was inspired by my rough past to help change the world for the better! I am the Savior!” She rolled her eyes and quickly brushed her teeth and ran a brush through her hair.

She went back into her bedroom and started pulling on clothing. She could hear dishes clinking in the kitchen.

“Hey, Snow!”

“Yeah?” Snow called back.

“Are you making food?” she asked, hopping around her room, pulling her boots on.

“I might be! I made you a smoothie!”

Emma grabbed her bag and slung it over her shoulder. She pulled open the door to her room and bounded into the kitchen. “Ooh, a smoothie! Thanks!”

Snow picked up her bag from where it was resting against the counter and pointed to where Emma’s drink was sitting. “This is only because it’s the first day.”

Emma laughed as she took the thermos. “I know, I know.” She led the way to the front door. “One day, you’re finally going to lose your virginity and I’m going to have to stop calling you Snow and you’re going to be so in love with your boyfriend that I’m never going to see you again. I’m going to have to shop for my own milk.”

Snow shut the door behind her and locked it. “What a tragedy!” They started down the path toward the parking lot. “Maybe you can move in with us! I’ll be the mom and he’ll be the dad. You’ll be the grown woman who refuses to actually grow up.”

“I’m not Peter Pan, Snow.” Emma searched through the bag on her shoulder for her car keys. “I’ll grow up eventually.”

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Emma pulled her yellow Bug into a parking spot on campus 20 minutes later. They’d spent the drive talking about Snow’s classes and club activities. Apparently, Emma learned, Snow had an internship at the local Elementary school. She’d be teaching English to first graders. Emma couldn’t even imagine doing that. Children were…difficult. 

Snow was taking three literature classes and a math class. Emma laughed when Snow mentioned Calculus. Snow was amazing and brilliant, but she was horrible at math. It would be a lot of fun to watch Snow try and do her homework. She might actually have more trouble than Emma this semester. Emma was taking College Algebra, Anthropology, and Archery in addition to Political Science. The first two were requirements, but she was taking Archery purely for fun. Too bad she couldn’t major in that.

Emma sighed as she shut the car off. Political Science was her first class on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays. She hoped she’d like it. If she didn’t, it’d be a really long semester. She realized she was just sitting there and shook herself. Reaching into the back seat, she grabbed her backpack and then pushed open her door and climbed out of the car.

“Emma Swan!”

She looked around the garage before spotting a man in a large security jacket. She grinned, shut the car door, and jogged over to him. “David!” She threw her arms around him. “Hi!”

“Hey, Emma!” He hugged her tightly, lifting her into the air. They laughed as he set her back down. “How have you been?”

“Good!” She pushed her hair out of her face. “Great! Sorry I didn’t text you back the other day. Snow got back and distracted me. Oh,” She turned and gestured for Snow to come over. “Let me introduce her.” Their eyes met briefly. “It’s ok; she knows.”

Snow hesitated awkwardly for a moment before running over. She stared at the floor, her face a bright red. Emma and David waited for her to speak, but she just kept avoiding David’s face, focusing intently on the floor instead. After a moment, he looked over at Emma, his eyebrows raised. Emma rolled her eyes.

“Snow, this is David. David, this is Snow.”

Snow’s head shot up and she stared at him with wide eyes. “Hello,” she squeaked. She turned to look at Emma. “I have class,” she choked out before turning on her heel and running out of the garage.

Emma and David watched her go. Emma turned back around to look at David. “So…She thinks you’re cute.”

David chuckled. “I have that effect on women.” Emma punched him in the arm.

“Ok, Charming. If you say so! How have you been?”

He rubbed his arm and shrugged. “I’ve been ok. Got a job working security here. It’s been rough since…”

“Yeah…” Emma ran a hand through her hair again. “Hey, I actually have to run to class, too. Are you gonna be around for lunch?”

David checked his watch. “Yeah! Are you free?”

Emma nodded and hitched her bag up on her shoulder. “Yup! I’ll text you when I get out.”

“Bring your roommate.” He winked at her.

Emma laughed and rolled her eyes. “Be gentle with her, please. She’s new at this.”

“I’m always gentle!”

“Yeah, yeah. Save it, stud. I’ll see you later!” She turned and headed to class.

__

Emma stood in front of the door to the classroom and checked her phone. Class started in five minutes, but she was starting to have doubts. What if she didn’t like the class? She’d have to drop it and find something else to take. She’d disappoint Snow, again. What if she did like the class? She’d have to major in Political Science. Was that what she wanted? Snow’s idea wasn’t exactly binding, but Emma did need to choose a major.

She’d never know either way if she didn’t go inside. But, if she didn’t go in, she wouldn’t have to deal with it at all. She lifted her hand and reached for the door handle, but froze halfway. Was she sure she wanted to do this?

“Are you alright?” a voice like sweet molasses asked.

Emma looked to her left. The woman who had spoken was as beautiful as her voice. She was a little shorter than Emma with shoulder length dark hair and the deepest brown eyes that Emma had ever seen. Emma swallowed hard, thrown by the sudden encounter. 

The woman’s eyebrows furrowed in concern. “I said, are you alright?”

Emma nodded, trying to salvage the situation.. “Yes.” 

The woman nodded and stood there for a moment, looking at Emma. “Well?”

“Well what?”

“Are you going in? Or will you continue standing in the way like a lump?”

Emma quickly stepped out of the woman’s way. “Sorry. Go ahead.”

“Are you coming in?” 

The woman pulled open the door and held it open for a second before sighing and letting it close behind her. Emma blinked, coming out of her stupor. Who was that? Emma peeked through the window trying to keep an eye on her before remembering that she could just go into the classroom. She pulled the door open and looked around the large lecture hall for a seat. The only one she could get to easily was right in the front row. 

She hurried to it and sat down, swinging her backpack off of her shoulder and tucking it under the small desk between her legs. She pulled out a notebook and a pen and settled back.

“Hi!” The girl next to her smiled. She had long brown hair with red tips. Emma looked her over and realized that almost everything she was wearing was red. “I’m Ruby.”

Emma chuckled. “You take your name pretty seriously, huh?”

Ruby shrugged, not embarrassed at all. “I look good in red.” She leaned back in her seat and gestured to a pale, skinny boy on her other side. “This guy is Archie. He’s my best friend turned roommate.” He waved. 

“I’m Emma. It’s nice to meet you.” 

Ruby opened her mouth to keep talking, but stopped when the professor started speaking.

“Hello, Hello!” 

The Professor gestured widely with his hands as he spoke. Emma tuned him out, but she kept looking at him. He looked…odd. He had scraggly hair and his nails seemed a bit too long. His name was written on the board behind him. Dean Gold. Emma wondered if Dean was his name or his title. He pointed behind himself.

Emma followed his finger and noticed the woman from earlier sitting at a desk to the right of the podium. She looked incredibly regal despite sitting behind an old school table. Her legs were crossed delicately and she’d put on black-framed glasses. Emma felt her chest flush. Who was this woman?

“This is my Teaching Assistant, Regina Mills. She’s a first-year master’s student. She’ll be the one teaching you this semester. In fact, you probably will never see me again unless you go into the major. I am Dean of the College of Political Science and I am very busy.” He turned and walked up to Regina’s desk. They spoke quietly for a moment. He turned and gave the class a quick wave. “Have fun.”

Regina gathered a stack of papers as he left the room. 

Ruby leaned towards Emma. “They call him Rumpelstiltskin because no one knows his first name.”

Emma chuckled. “Maybe it’s Dean. Maybe that’s the secret.”

Ruby’s eyes widened and she quickly turned away to tell Archie. They began whispering furiously. Emma frowned. Was there some joke she didn’t know?

She shrugged and turned back to Regina. Their eyes met. Regina smiled slightly before frowning. Emma felt her face heat up. She quickly looked down at her notebook and pretended to write something. 

When she glanced up again, Regina was standing at the end of their row. She passed out a small stack of papers to the person at the end of the row and then moved the next row of seats, and so on.. When it got to Emma, she saw that it was a Syllabus. It was pretty thick. She took one and passed the rest along.

Before she could flip through the daunting list of assignments, Ruby started talking again. “Hey! What are you doing for lunch?”

“I’m getting food with a couple of friends, why?”

Ruby shrugged. “We were gonna invite you to eat with us.”

“Oh, um, why?”

Ruby looked at her like she was crazy. “Well, one, you seem really badass in a red leather jacket and, two, you’re obviously over 21 and can buy us booze if we get friendly.”

Emma laughed. “Ok, that’s true. I am super badass.”

Regina walked back to the front of the class. “Today, we will be going over your syllabus. I expect everyone to have all the required books by next week. The reading for Wednesday and Friday will be posted online. Let’s begin.”

By the time class was over, Emma was regretting the fact that she followed Regina into the classroom. There were so many assignments and so much reading. She was going to have to cut back her gym time. Ruby and Archie practically raced out of the room once Regina had dismissed them and Emma was left to pack up her things.

When she stood from her desk, she hit her hip on the arm rest and fell to the ground, flipping the desk. She ended up in a heap on the floor, her backpack three feet away and her dignity gone altogether. As she started to right herself, a pair of black, stiletto boots came into view. Hadn’t Regina been wearing those boots?

“Are you alright?”

Emma looked up at Regina and met amused eyes. From her position on the floor, Regina towered over her, arms crossed and eyebrow raised high. “Yes.”

“You know, if I ever have to ask a third time, I’m just going to assume the answer is no.”

Emma mumbled something incoherent about how third times were charms and fled the room, snatching her backpack up on the way out. This was not a good way to start the semester.


	3. Chapter 3

A couple weeks later, Emma walked into Granny’s just after 10am. Despite a few applications, she still hadn’t found a job and that was getting to be a problem. Her Political Science class was going pretty well, at least socially. She had bonded with Ruby and Archie. It was really great to have someone to study with. Well, someone who was in the same class. Snow was great for Anthropology, but Emma was on her own with everything else. 

Actually, Emma had been studying alone more than usual. Snow and David had started dating. They were still really awkward around each other and more often than not they dragged Emma along on their dates to keep things going. Other than that, she wasn’t seeing much of Snow.

Snow and David always had random adventures though. Emma would get a text message saying that they’d lost track of time while talking, missed the bus and tried to walk home, but ended up getting lost. Emma had done a lot of rescuing. She hoped their honeymoon period would end soon so she could have some peace and her usual study partner back.

Archery was a good distraction. Emma loved solo sports and Archery was no exception. It wasn’t intellectual, so she never felt stupid and she was always able to book time on the field to practice. The man who taught the class, Robin, was a pretty cool guy. He was a bit dull, but really nice. He’d also mentioned Regina a couple times which led to images of Regina doing archery and…well.

Nothing had happened with Regina and Emma was starting to think nothing would. Not every hot TA was looking to hook-up with a hot undergrad, but Emma still held some hope. She didn’t even know if Regina liked women, but Emma’s gaydar was never wrong.

Her crush aside, Emma always tried to pay attention in class so she could answer questions and be part of conversations, but Regina had yet to call on her. Emma was sure that Regina was ignoring her on purpose. She would make eye contact when Emma raised her hand, but then she’d look away and call on someone else. It was going to be hard to get a good participation grade if she wasn’t allowed to participate.

Emma walked towards the last booth. Granny’s was set up like a classic diner. Booths on one side, tables on the other and a counter that separated the kitchen. She and Snow had claimed the last booth in the corner at the beginning of last year and they came here all the time. Granny’s closed at 2am and opened again at 10. The place had just opened so it was pretty empty. Emma slung her bag onto the table and headed to the counter.

She was greeted by a cute, white haired girl. She had a white polo, khaki skinny jeans, and her hair was up in a thick braid. Emma hated that uniform. If she were to work here, she would definitely only wear tank tops. Polos did nothing for her figure, but this girl looked good in it. Emma suspected that she’d look good in anything. When Emma leaned onto the counter, the girl gave her a big smile.

“Hi! I’m Elsa! Welcome to Granny’s Diner! Have you been here before?”

Emma looked at her for a moment before laughing. “You must be new.”

“I am.” Elsa’s smile faltered for a moment. “How could you tell?”

Emma smiled at her. “I come here every day. Like, literally every day.”

“Well, I look forward to seeing you a lot then,” Elsa said, blushing slightly.

Emma looked at her for a moment before smiling slowly. She softly kicked the bar. “Yeah, I’d like that.”

Elsa’s blush deepened and she cleared her throat. Emma’s grin widened. This girl was adorable. Elsa ran a hand over her braid.

“Can I get you something?”

Emma realized she was staring and looked away. She squinted at the menu board. She got the same thing every time, but maybe she could try something new? Nope.

“Yeah, can I get a hot chocolate with cinnamon and a cheeseburger? Extra cheesy.”

“Coming right up!”

Emma made her way back to her booth. Snow should get here eventually. Emma sighed as she sat down. She had a lot of homework to do. Political Science was really just a bunch of note taking and reading. She had a paper due at some point, but she wasn’t really sure when. She should look that up.

She quickly set up her station. She had a spiral notebook opened to a clean page, her textbook turned to chapter 6 and her study playlist queued up. She was going to get some work done before Snow showed up and impress her. Snow always distracted her and so Snow thought that she was incapable of studying. When Snow showed up, Emma would have to dedicate her attention to listening about the latest adventure with David.

A plate was set in front of her and Emma looked up to see Elsa sitting on the other side of the booth. She smiled nervously and tossed her braid over her shoulder.

“Mind if I sit with you? It’s really dead in here.”

Emma smiled at her and shut her textbook. “Yeah!” She grabbed her cheeseburger. “So, are you a student?” she asked before taking a big bite of the burger.

Elsa rested her chin on her hand. “I’m a sophomore. I’m studying Meteorology.”

“That’s coolt!” Emma said, her mouth still full. She blushed and swallowed. Putting her burger down, she picked up a fry and dipped it in ketchup. “How old are you?”

“Nineteen,” Elsa answered, “ but I’m mature for my age.”

Emma tossed her fry in her mouth and crossed her arms on the table. “Oh, yeah?”

“Yup.”

They looked at each other a moment before grinning. Emma ripped a page out of her notebook and scrawled her phone number on it. She folded the page and gave it to Elsa. “Don’t lose that.”

“I won’t!” Elsa tucked it into her pocket and sighed. “I wish you’d ordered something cold. I could have impressed you with some cool designs.”

Emma’s eyes widened. “Oh! You have Cold magic?”

Elsa nodded. “Yeah, well, Ice. It’s not really helpful at Granny’s, but it’s really convenient during snow storms.”

“Yeah, I’ll bet.” Emma took a sip of her hot chocolate. “I’m really jealous! I don’t have magic. If I did, I bet I’d get something unhelpful, like…the ability to make a mess.” She smiled crookedly. “Well, I already have that power.”

Elsa giggled and slid out of the booth. “I should get back behind the counter before Granny sees me slacking.” 

Emma quickly stood up and followed her to the counter. “I’m surprised Granny hired you! She never hires anyone.” Emma sat on one of the bar stools. This was the best flirting she’d done in a long time and she wanted to keep it going.

Elsa shrugged as she walked around the counter, dragging her finger over it and leaving a trail of ice crystals. “Apparently, she fired her old staff, or they graduated or something. There’s still one more job opening.”

Emma gasped and jumped to her feet, startling Elsa. “Can I have it? Please!”

Elsa looked at Emma’s eager face and started laughing. “Your face! You look so excited! Like a little kid!”

Emma blushed. “Uh, I really need a job.”

Elsa straightened up and wiped her eyes. “I can tell. You’d have to talk to Granny, though.”

“Ok!” Emma leapt over the counter and ran past Elsa to the back. “Granny!”

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A week later, Emma had become Granny’s newest employee and unofficial handyman. Normally, Emma didn’t drink coffee, so she’d never noticed how often Granny’s coffee machine broke. If it weren’t for the fact that Granny paid her extra for every repair, she’d think the old lady was breaking it on purpose. Still, the repairs were a good excuse to always be in a tank top and shorts. She’d convinced Granny that repairing a fridge in khakis was a terrible idea and Granny had reluctantly agreed.

It was 20 minutes until closing and the Diner had been dead all night. Snow had a date with David (something Emma had teased her about mercilessly like always) and hadn’t come in to do homework. Ruby and Archie were off exploring the campus. They were part of some sort of detective club and always seemed to be getting into trouble. It was raining really hard tonight, so she doubted they were going to find anything spectacular.

One of her favorite things about the Diner was that it was always warm. As much as Elsa complained about the warmth, Emma reveled in it. It was the end of September and starting to get cold. Emma had brought out her beanies and boots, but it was always nice to come in and shed her layers. Right now, however, she was sweating. 

Emma had been hauling boxes for the past hour or so. Granny had bought all new silverware and plates and Emma had been tasked with carrying everything from the storeroom into the Diner. She decided to skip the gym tomorrow; she’d earned it. She wiped her hand across her forehead and winced at how sweaty she’d gotten. Thank god no one was here. She probably smelled terrible. Maybe she could ask Snow to make her smell better; Snow could make anything smell like Potpourri. 

She squatted down behind the counter and started opening boxes. There were bins for utensils under the counter. Spoons on the left, forks in the middle, and knives to the right. She started throwing utensils into the proper bins, but stopped when she heard the bell above the door chime. Emma checked her watch 15 minutes until the diner closed. If that person wanted food, they were out of luck.

She wiped her forehead again and stood up. “Hello, how can I- oh, Regina.”

Regina wrestled her raincoat off in the doorway, stomping her feet on the doormat. Her hair was soaking wet and her mascara was running down her face. Emma couldn’t help but smirk at the fact that she actually looked disheveled. She was still gorgeous, of course, but it was nice to know that she could, in fact, get messy.

Regina pushed her hair out of the way, frowning when her fingers got caught. After struggling for a moment to get her hand free, she finally looked at Emma. 

“Hello, Miss Swan.” Regina strolled up to the counter confidently as if she didn’t look half-drowned. “I apologize for coming in so close to the closing time, but my umbrella was ripped from my hands by a particularly strong wind and this was the closest open place.”

Emma gestured towards Regina’s face. “And here I was thinking this was just a particularly wild fashion choice.”

Regina rolled her eyes. “It is far too late and I am far too tired for poor jokes, Miss Swan. Is there any way I could talk you into to making me a warm drink?”

Emma shrugged. “Yeah, sure. I’m not going to make you food, though. The kitchen is closed.”

“I did not ask for food.” She crossed her arms on the bar. “Just some coffee, if you would. Black.” 

Emma sighed. “Alright. Give me a second.” She squatted back down behind the counter and quickly sorted the rest of the silverware. She broke down the boxes and stacked them at the far end of the counter. Heading back towards Regina, she lifted her arms above her head and stretched. She let out a satisfied groan as she felt her muscles pull.

When she dropped her arms, she looked back towards Regina. Regina had an odd look on her face. Her eyes were locked on Emma’s arms. Deciding to test her theory, Emma flexed. She heard Regina’s breath catch.

Emma chuckled and Regina’s eyes flew up to meet hers. Emma smirked when Regina blushed and cleared her throat.

“Miss Swan, I’d like that coffee.”

Emma held out her hands defensively. “You’ll get it. Relax, just thought I’d finish what I was doing first. Now, I can focus on you fully.”

Regina rolled her eyes, her cool demeanor back. “I just want coffee, Miss Swan. Although, that seems to be an impossible task for you.” She waved her hand. The stack of boxes at the end of the bar floated into the air and then dropped to the floor, scattering. “Whoops.”

Emma sighed. “Seriously, Regina?” She headed back to boxes and started re-stacking them. “This is only going to make your coffee take longer.”

“Maybe you should have started the coffee before stacking the boxes. It’s called multi-tasking.”

Emma rolled her eyes and set the boxes down on the bar. “So, you can levitate things?”

Regina smirked. “You think I’m going to write out the Dean’s extremely extensive notes by hand? No.” She watched Emma head back towards her. “Now, my coffee please.”

Emma laughed and turned to the coffee machine. “One extra milk, extra sugar, coffee with whipped cream coming right up!” She pushed the ON button dramatically.

Emma heard Regina sigh heavily. “All I wanted was an escape from the rain and a warm drink, but I see even that is a difficult task for you. Maybe you should talk this much in class.”

Emma’s mouth dropped open and she turned to look at Regina incredulously. “What? Seriously?”

“Yes, you have yet to speak once; it’s been a month. Your participation grade is looking very low.”

Emma threw her hands up and turned back to the machine. “I raise my hand every class! You have yet to pick on me. I know you see me; I sit right in the front. We’ve made eye contact.” She felt a sharp poke in her back. Twisting to look behind her, she saw a fork floating in mid-air. “Really, Regina?” She grabbed a cup and pulled the coffee machine’s lever.

She turned back to Regina and saw her eyes shoot upwards to her face. Emma placed the mug in front of Regina and leaned forward on the counter. “I think you aren’t calling on me in class purposefully. I think that you get distracted by my beautiful face and forget to actually call on me.”

Regina wrapped her hands around the mug and pulled it close, soaking in the heat. “You, Miss Swan, are too smug for your own good. Your grades are mediocre and I doubt you have anything relevant to say anyway.”

Emma just looked at her. “Whatever.” 

Regina looked sheepish, but covered it by taking a sip of her drink. She pulled her wallet out her back pocket and placed a five on the counter. It was way too much for the coffee, but Emma guessed the tip was to make up for being rude. She took a last drink as she stood up. Emma watched her walk to the door and slid her raincoat back on. She paused with one hand on the handle.

Looking back over her shoulder, she met Emma’s eyes. “We’ll be discussing Karl Marx tomorrow. Be prepared.” She walked through the door, but poked her head back in. “Your research paper is due on Monday, Miss Swan, I’d suggest starting.” She waved her hand again and flipped the ‘Open’ sign to ‘Closed.’

Emma watched the door shut, smiling. Regina was a complicated woman, but Emma could do complicated. She enjoyed a bit of a chase, too. Regina didn’t seem like the type to flirt for fun, but she also didn’t seem the type to give in easily. Emma walked to the door and locked it. Oh yeah. It was on.

She remembered what Regina said and slapped her forehead. “I forgot about the research paper.”

**Author's Note:**

> Feedback is always appreciated! I'm definitely willing to update the story based on what you guys think, so let me know in the comments! Thanks!


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